Battle of Chipana

The Battle of Chipana took place on 12 April 1879, during the War of the Pacific between Chile and Peru. It was the first naval engagement between both navies and took place in front of Huanillos, off the (then) Bolivian coast, as the Peruvian corvette Unión and gunboat Pilcomayo found the Chilean corvette Magallanes on its way to Iquique.

Battle of Chipana
Part of the War of the Pacific
Chilean corvette Magallanes
Date 12 April 1879 Location Near Huanillos, Bolivia (present day Chile) Result Indecisive, Chileans completed only part of their mission.
Belligerents
Chile	Peru
Commanders and leaders
Juan José Latorre	A. García y García
Strength
1 corvette	1 corvette 1 gunboat

After a two-hour running artillery duel, Unión suffered engine problems, the pursuit was called off. Magallanes escaped with minor damage and had completed part of its mission, delivering commissioned papers to Iquique, but could not complete its reconnaissance mission of finding if any guano ships were still trading in the zone.